thank you for having the hindsight to realize that that was probably a mistake to do. plenty of people here have been defending driving under the influence

I paint and draw, purely as a hobby. You wouldn't believe the amount of crap some people have. Brushes they use only once in a lifetime, for one specific element. Special colours they also get to use only once. Pencils they don't even open. Get a basic set, familiarise yourself with it, stretch it to the full extent of its capabilities (that's mastery), and then upgrade to a higher quality version of what you have. No single-use novelty tools and materials.

GAS is absolutely something I've done. Is it a problem? Depends on perspective. Sometimes the nicer equipment makes the hobby so much more enjoyable at the early stages that I'm more likely to stick with it. Sometimes I spent a lot more money than was required because there's a lot of gatekeeping in hobbyist circles. How many times have you heard arguments like "the Manoblaster XYZ 22.9 is trash and if you're serious, you really should look at the Ploydester 7, it's got 9 more omicron settings and it really hits the low tags like nothing else can."